DA Budget Woes: Job Threats in Wisconsin, and a Standoff Over Budget Cuts in Nevada

Standoffs between prosecutors and budget officials have reached new levels in Wisconsin and Nevada.

In Nevada, Clark County District Attorney David Roger said he won’t comply with a request to cut 9 percent from his budget, according to the Las Vegas Sun and the Las Vegas Review Journal. Roger said he already made cuts in prior years, and his office is overworked and understaffed. The public defender’s office has more lawyers, Roger said.

Meanwhile, prosecutors in Wisconsin who were thinking about refusing an order to take six more furlough days better think again, according to a letter dispatched by the Office of State Employee Relations. The letter tells assistant district attorneys they will all become part-timers if they don’t agree to the furloughs, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel blog Proof & Hearsay. Pay and benefits will both be affected.

Prosecutors’ current contracts have a negotiated limit of five furlough days a year, according to Sheboygan County District Attorney Joe DeCecco. He called the letter “intimidation, purse and simple,” Proof & Hearsay reports.